1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to mesoporous carbon, a method of manufacturing the same and a fuel cell using the mesoporous carbon, and more particularly, to a method of manufacturing mesoporous carbon with high conductivity using an easily graphitized mesophase pitch and other carbon precursors, mesoporous carbon having low sheet resistance and mesopores prepared using the method, and a fuel cell using the mesoporous carbon as a support for catalysts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Catalysts that are contained in electrodes of fuel cells to facilitate electrochemical reactions play an important role, and thus, it is desirable that the activity of catalysts used in electrodes be as high as possible. Since the activity of a catalyst increases as the reaction surface area of the catalyst increases, catalyst particles should be reduced in diameter to increase the reaction surface area and should be uniformly distributed in an electrode. A catalyst support should have a large surface area, and thus much research into catalyst supports has been carried out.
Meanwhile, in addition to a large surface area, which may be obtained through high porosity, a support for a fuel cell catalyst should have sufficient electrical conductivity to act as a path for the flow of electrons. A conventional example of such a support is an amorphous microporous carbon powder, such as activated carbon or carbon black, and a regularly arranged carbon molecular sieve material (Korean Patent Laid-Open Gazette No. 2001-0001127).
However, it is known that micropores of such an amorphous microporous carbon powder are poorly connected. Therefore, in a conventional direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), a supported catalyst that is prepared using an amorphous microporous carbon powder as a support exhibits much lower reactivity than do metal particles used by themselves as a catalyst.
However, when metal particles are used by themselves as a catalyst, the amount of the catalyst required is greater, and thus, the manufacturing costs of a DMFC increase. Accordingly, the development of a supported catalyst that can improve catalyst activity is urgently desired.